As part of the Danang SURF 2023 activities, a series of online and in-person conferences took place, entitled: “Building Danang into a City of Innovation”; “Unlocking sources of capital for startups”; “The international integration of the local startup and innovation ecosystem in the context of globalization”; and “Presenting ideas: Connecting investment to startups”. The conferences attracted well-known expert speakers from home and abroad, and served as a forum to share knowledge and experience about ways that the Danang startup community can take advantage of potential investment opportunities.
Ms. Le Thi Thuc
Department of Science & Technology Deputy-Director, Ms. Le Thi Thuc, explained; “An innovative startup ecosystem has been created in Danang and is developing rapidly. In particular, the city is determined to make local companies its core, the center of innovative activities, and focus its resources to support the development of startup businesses. The city has issued policies to build the infrastructure to do so and, to date, has established one city startup & innovation support center, two university centers, nine incubators, four creative spaces, nine co-working spaces, four startup investment funds, startup clubs at universities and colleges, and a thriving innovative startup business community.”
“By arranging many practical activities, the Danang city authorities plan to create the ideal conditions to grow the ecosystem to reach out to the international marketplace. Today’s conferences are part of this mission, so that partners and investors can obtain a clearer understanding of the Danang startup ecosystem, to make it grow stronger in the future and provide startups access to expert investment resources, and with domestic and international support organizations to develop their projects. We thank the expert speakers, investors and startup support organizations for attending these conferences, and for their opinions and their contribution in promoting startups here.”
Guests and speakers in discussion at a conference
At the conference entitled: “Building Danang into a City of Innovation,” the speakers covered trends, strategies, and policies to build such an innovative city, by providing the optimum creative environment appropriate to Danang startups.
The conference entitled: “Unlocking sources of capital for startups” focused on the importance of mobilizing capital for startup businesses. The speakers discussed ways of funding startups to locate and attract investment capital. In two exemplary simultaneous startup pitching sessions, potential projects were presented directly to investors, allowing startups to develop their products further.
… and the online speakers
The conference entitled: “The international integration of the local startup and innovation ecosystem in the context of globalization” was a forum where well-known domestic and foreign speakers shared their knowledge and experiences. It provided an opportunity to learn and boost the development of the startup ecosystem in Danang and to bring international opportunities to the startup community in the city. Startup investors from other countries are beginning to appreciate Danang as a vibrant city, very suitable for startups and the successes of startups like Dat Bike, Selly, and Hekate have attracted foreign investment capital and sponsorship. SURF 2023 continues to introduce several new potential startup projects to investors, which is evidence of the strong ongoing development of the startup community in Danang.
“Presenting ideas: Connecting investment to startups” introduced 19 projects from local companies, universities, training facilities and manufacturers, sharing new and highly practical and valuable business ideas. For example, the King Attorney project is a legal platform for investment connections; the Cloudgo project is a streamlined digital transformation solution for the beauty service industry; the Firewall project manufactures skills practice models for medical training; another project produces 3D printing plastic filaments from used plastic bottles; and the Wetex project is a global fashion supply chain management platform. The unique and creative projects were much appreciated by the investors, because of their clearly defined goals, appropriate business models and output. Potential customers were directly connected with investors or found support from agencies or businesses with a need for such products.
SURF 2023 aimed at putting startups on center stage and creating a platform where startups had access to expert investment resources and domestic and international support organizations. As a result of this networking, startups in Danang will be able to develop their products more easily and expand the scale of their operations in today’s challenging and competitive environment.
(Media Center)